Test and measurement apparatuses in general, and oscilloscopes in particular, allow a user to view certain aspects of an electronic or other signal. In the case of a traditional digital oscilloscope, the apparatus allows the user to view an electronic signal presented to an input of the oscilloscope. Each oscilloscope is provided with a number of input channels for receiving signals thereon. Furthermore, each oscilloscope is provided with one or more trigger options in order to allow for the indication of starting and stopping the recordation of data. Many oscilloscopes allow for an internally generated trigger, or for an externally provided trigger to be utilized.
While performing a number of tests or the like, a user may wish to view, compare, or test a plurality of signals at one time. While this is what an oscilloscope is designed to do, it may be the case that the user wishes to acquire more signals than there are available inputs in a particular oscilloscope. Traditionally, the user has not been able to do so, and must resort to acquiring some of the signal, storing them, and then acquiring other of the signals. This method, however, is unacceptable for a number of reasons in that it does not allow the viewing of a large number of simultaneously generated signals.
Therefore it would be beneficial to provide an improved method and apparatus that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification and the drawings.